You may have two extra options available to you depending on your employer

You have an extra 2 ½ months to use up funds from the previous year

You can carry over $500 from the previous year

Which is right for you?

It very much depends on what is available to you. If you don’t have a High deductible health plan, then you are ineligible for an HSA. If your employer doesn’t offer an FSA, I’m sorry, that’s not available to you either.

If you have the option to pick between the two, most often I would lean towards the HSA and there are a few reasons why.

You are able to contribute more, which gives you more money to use on qualified expenses and could effectively lower your tax liability.

You can carry over unused contributions year-after-year.

This can be used as a retirement savings vehicle. Decades of contributions and compounding returns could give you a sizeable amount to use on medical expenses in retirement

You should not use an FSA if you are in good health. An FSA is more appropriate for someone with recurring and somewhat predictable medical expenses. If you are healthy, the odds of you contributing to an FSA and not using the funds, are pretty high.

Conclusion

Health insurance and medical care are expensive. Having an FSA or an HSA available to lessen the blow of those expenses is HUGE.

It is very important to know which one you can use, and which one would be the most beneficial to you.

Use this information to carefully select and effectively use what’s available to you.

How many of you have had an unplanned expense recently? How much was it $500? $1,000?

Unplanned expenses are anything but, unplanned. Sure, we don’t know when they will occur, but they will occur.

Being able to “plan” for those expenses will save you a lot of grief, and will probably save you money.

If you don’t have a rainy day fund, how do you pay for an unexpected expense? Your credit card?

Having an emergency fund has many benefits, and having one set up can make a big difference in your life. But how do you save for emergencies? What characteristics does an emergency fund have? And when should you use it?

What is an emergency fund?

It’s exactly how it sounds. It’s an account, usually a savings account or a money market account, that you designate for emergencies.

You set this up to “plan” for unexpected expenses. For example, you set aside money for the future in case your car breaks down or your furnace stops working.

Why do you need one?

The emergency fund is designed to save your monthly budget. Unexpected expenses can be expensive and can do significant damage to one’s monthly budget.

If you have money set aside for a rainy day and something unexpected happens, you can use the money from your emergency fund to pay for that expense. Your monthly budget isn’t affected at all.

What are the characteristics of an emergency fund?

There aren’t really many characteristics of an emergency fund. Here’s essentially what you need:

You need an account separate from your checking account.

This separate account needs to be easily accessible and liquid.1

You should have 3-6 months worth of expenses saved in this account.

You can have too much.

Having 3-6 months, or even a year is fine, but anything else should be saved and invested for your retirement. (Savings accounts earn next to nothing in interest)

What strategies can you implement to save for an emergency?

There are many things you can do to save money for your emergency fund.

Create a budget

List your income

List your necessary expenses (housing, transportation, food, etc.)

List your discretionary spending (fun money)(keep this to a minimum)

Compare income to expenses and adjust as necessary

Reduce your expenses

Cut the cable, use subscriptions instead

Eat out less, or don’t eat out at all

Rent movies, TV shows, and books from the library

Walk or ride your bike instead of driving (when applicable)

Control your utilities (open windows during summer, layer up during winter)

Automate your savings – Set up automatic transfers from your checking to your savings. Have it take place at the first of the month or every Monday. If this happens first, you can’t spend it away.

When should you use it?

You should use your emergency fund whenever you have an unexpected expense that could disrupt your monthly budget.

Here’s a small list of examples:

Car repairs

Home repairs

Emergency, short-notice flights

Life expenses post-job loss

When shouldn’t you use it?

Your emergency fund shouldn’t be used on large once per year costs like:

Property taxes

Owed taxes

Holiday spending

Conclusion

Unplanned expenses can wreak a person’s monthly budget. It helps and makes a dramatic difference to have money set aside for a rainy day.

Besides the financial aspect of having an emergency fund, you also have a psychological benefit. Peace of mind knowing that you have money available if a large expense were to come into your life.

Losing your job can be defeating. But bills don’t care. They just keep coming. How do you deal with mounting debt when your income is no longer there?

Freedom Debt Relief shares several tips in this article to help you bridge the gap until you land your next job.

Don’t Raid Your Emergency Fund

It can be tempting to drain your emergency fund or even retirement in an effort to pay off some debt and cease at least a few monthly payments. However, this isn’t the best option. It will only lead to accumulating more debt, probably on your credit cards at a high rate of interest.

Make only the minimum payment on any debt. This will help stretch your existing dollars as far as they can go. Make use of your existing checking balance and any severance money.

Some lenders will not do this while you might have luck getting at least one of those terms. Freedom Debt Relief mentions that not trying isn’t an option. With no money coming in, you need to try every tactic possible to keep as much money from going out as you can.

Rework Your Budget

The budget that worked while you were earning money isn’t the same budget that will work while you’re unemployed. Things are about to get extremely tight.

Freedom Debt Relief reviews says you have to start shifting into a completely different mindset. One of survival. When you’re in survival mode, you aren’t thinking about luxury items, take out pizza, leaving lights on or buying lotto tickets.

Instead, think food, shelter and utilities. Freedom Debt Relief reviews mentions that it’s only the necessities that should be consuming any money. This also includes minimum payments to creditors, including your car note. At this point, your budget is very predictable and should be far less than when you were employed. If not, your budget needs lots more work.

Financing Options

Finding some way to keep up payments when you have no income can seem like mission impossible. It can be tempting to sell out and try to get a high rate payday loan. Freedom Debt Relief reviews says don’t do it. You’ll send yourself so far backwards, wishing you could take back your decision. But it will be too late.

Instead, turn to family and friends if you must borrow. Add interest to any borrowed amount to let them know you are serious about paying back the loan. Then continue your job search every day.

Conclusion

Freedom Debt Relief is on your side. Having monthly notes coming in without any income is definitely scary. We are here to help you find a way to navigate these troublesome waters.

Getting free play codes and gift cards in exchange for answering a few questions may sound like an easy way to get some free goods, but don’t buy into it. In fact, be very careful. Why? Because not only are code generators a scam, they are trying to infect your system with malicious malware and steal your identity. Google Play redeem codes are no different.

Many sites offer free Google Play codes in exchange for answering a few questions and offering your opinion on their marketing efforts. It only takes a few minutes of your time and, since you’re offering an opinion on whether or not their marketing efforts are hitting their mark, it makes sense that you’d get paid. But instead of getting paid in dollars, these survey sites are offering Google Play codes as payment.

They claim that you can use the free redeem codes for music, games, and videos, but in reality, the codes don’t actually work and you’ve wasted your time with the surveys. In addition, the chances that your computer is now open to an attack or your identity is at risk is very high.

Gift card and code generators are developed by very experienced hackers. They con you into doing some kind of task, like answering surveys, and offer you free Google Play redeem codes in exchange for your time. But guess what . . . they are using these surveys to gather enough personal information to steal your identity. They may also be planting a virus in your computer with each click of the mouse you make. And while these sites look like the real deal, they are really fake sites, used only to gather your information.

Google Play redeem code generating sites, for the most part, are a scam so avoid them. Their only goal is to collect your information. While you’re busy taking a survey, the hackers are stealing your email and any other information you provide. They will give you a free Google Play redeem code in in exchange for your information, but it won’t work. Do not trust any site that offers free Google Play redeem codes.

But there is one option that is safe and offers real redeem codes in exchange for your opinions.

TokenFire is an advertising app that offers rewards for your opinions. You can earn “tokens” for things like watching videos or playing games on their app. Then you can exchange your “tokens” for Google Play redeem codes or other gift cards. There are various ways to earn “tokens” and each task offers a different number of tokens depending on how much of your time it will take and the difficulty of the task. Once earned, your “tokens” are easily redeemable for Google Play codes. You can even exchange them for Amazon gift cards if you’d like.

Free Google Play redeem codes are a scam, as are most other free redeem code offers you may find so stay away from them. Only use legitimate sites to earn rewards, it will help prevent you from being hacked.

Businesses and individuals benefit from careful money management and financial responsibility. In fact, it is virtually impossible to care for your needs and wants without budgeting and understanding exactly where your money is going. Some companies may get by with a basic idea of what funds are coming in and what expenses are going out, but individuals who are strapped for cash — even living paycheck to paycheck — may completely forgo budgeting. This is a mistake.

Zero-sum budgeting is popular for a reason. Even with just a pen and pad of paper, people can take steps toward controlling their finances. Unlike an operating budget or a cash flow budget, a zero-sum budget takes a micro look at every penny that goes in and out of your checking account. This approach is thorough, and it’s the best way to get a grip on your savings while allowing you to spend on the things you and maintaining control over the areas needed to ensure a comfortable life.

The benefits of zero-sum budgeting are multifaceted and include managing one’s debt; eliminating waste; precisely balancing one’s budget; avoiding overspending; and accounting for factors such as savings, investments, food, and entertainment. This means your budget will account for everything that will affect your bank statement, from annual expenses to monthly bills and daily costs. There are many other benefits to this approach, and it can be done starting today. Take this quiz to test your knowledge of this budgeting technique and learn what else you need to do to stay on top of your finances.

Your family budget is likely to be one of the most important things that are on your mind each time you open another bill. The internet is littered with so many articles on how to plan a budget or living on a budget. Besides being able to get into the mindset that you always have enough money, or that you need to work more, there are ways that you can plan a budget like a pro and we are going to outline a few of those right now.

Most Important – Note All Income Sources

This might be the most obvious thing, but at the end of the day, there is no way that you can budget without knowing where all the money is coming from. Take a minute and write down all of the ways that you and your family make money each month. Of course, this could be as easy as noting your job, but some people do odd jobs on the side or have other passive income they should be considering as well. Include everything, like tips, alimony, pension, social security, and even child support. Do not forget anything and if you need someone to double check, that is highly recommended.

Get Those Expenses Figured Out

When you take a minute to look at what you spend each month, there will be the big ones that stick out to you. Mortgage, groceries, and car insurance are a couple that immediately comes to mind. There are always expenses that fall through the cracks and those should be noted as well. Remember the fixed expenses, as well as the variable ones like your electric bill and groceries, which change each month but are still expenses. Again, make sure to double check your list. Leaving anything out, especially something major can impact the end result of your family budget. At the end of the exercise you might feel like you could go earn an online masters degree in accounting, but if that is what it takes to get your budget under control, so be it. Earning an MSA degree online is easier than ever before.

Adjustments Will Be Needed

When you sat down to pretend that you are an accounting wizard with your finances, you knew that in the end you were going have to make some changes. Once you have all of the income and expenses figured out, it is time to see where you can make these adjustments. Things like your cell phone plan, cable bill, or even going out to eat each month can all be adjusted to save you a little more money. Take your time and plan accordingly. Some adjustments can be made one month and changed, or swapped with different adjustments the next month.

Spending less money is never much fun, but when you are trying to get your family budget under control, fun is not always part of the equation. Put small limits in place and see how planning the budget and sticking to it can really make you feel like a pro!

Hopefully, you already have a budget and you’re working with it every month. But you may find that you’re coming up a little short. That may be due to that fact that you’re leaving off some important items that you didn’t consider when you created that budget. And if you have too many unplanned expenses, your budget could be going sideways quickly.

Usually, these items aren’t left off intentional, they just seem so minor that the get overlooked. Here are a few things that you might need to add to your budget to make it work:

Subscriptions

If you love Amazon and shop there frequently, you probably have a Prime membership. And since you only pay your membership fee once a year, you probably didn’t add it into your budget. But you need to include that $99 fee along with any other services and subscriptions you may only pay once a year like magazines, Spotify, or Netflix. And of course, don’t forget your monthly memberships like the gym and monthly subscription boxes. If it’s something you only pay once a year, figure out the monthly cost by dividing the total by 12 then set that amount aside each month starting now to cover next year’s expense.

Special Occasions

Birthdays only come around once a year as well so you may not be including those in your budget. But if you have more than one gift to buy in a month, it can really spread you thin that month. Go back and take a look at what you spent on gifts last year, who you bought for and an average of what you spent. Then, divide the total by 12 to get an amount to put in your monthly budget. Do this for holiday shopping as well so you don’t end up with a huge credit card bill in January.

Car

Your monthly car payment is most likely in your budget, but did you remember to add in gas and tolls? How about oil changes, new tires, safety inspections, and any other regular maintenance costs? These items are easy to forget because they don’t come up that often. But they do add up so add a line for routine car maintenance to your monthly budget.

New Clothes

If you are a parent, you know that your kids grow quickly and always seem to need new clothes so you probably have a budget line for them. But what about you? If you don’t shop for yourself too often and like to shop sales, you’ve probably neglected to add these costs to your budget. In addition to new clothes, you’ll need to buy necessities like undergarments and socks. And don’t forget new shoes!

Fun

You work hard for your money so you deserve to treat yourself once in a while. Maybe it’s dinner at your favorite restaurant or tools for a new DIY project. Add “Fun Money” to your budget and treat yourself to something you enjoy.

Pets

Your fur babies have expenses too. They need food, toys, treats, and annual vet visits. If you go on vacation, you might have to hire a pet sitter or board your pets. Add a “Pet” line to your budget then estimate your yearly costs so you can break them down into a monthly budget line item. And keep track of your actual expenses so you know what to budget for next year.

Tax season is wrapping up, and if you’re expecting a nice refund check to hit your bank account any day, you’ll need a plan for how to use it so you don’t waste it away. If the thought of that extra money coming your way is already burning a hole in your pocket, you may want to think about using it in a way that will be financially beneficial to you instead.

Let your money work for you. What does your current financial situation look like? Can your refund check offer you a little more security? Here are some basic financial priorities that you may want to consider using your refund for.

Pay Off Those High-Interest Loans and Credit Cards

If you’re trying to work yourself out of debt, your tax refund can help you reduce or eliminate your high-interest debt that’s costing you more. Use your refund to pay off any loans or credit cards with a low balance. Or, consolidate high-interest accounts and put your refund towards any transfer or early payoff fees to help eliminate paying more in interest. Take a look at your high-interest student loans, car loans, or credit card debt and determine the best way to pay these down or pay them off completely.

Start An Emergency Fund

If you don’t already have a healthy emergency fund, now is the time to start. If you do have one, but the balance isn’t as high as you’d like, your refund check can give it a healthy boost. If you don’t have an emergency fund, you’re just one unexpected expense away from getting in debt. You should have at least six to eight months’ worth of your salary set aside. Saving that much can take months if you’re only able to set aside a little bit each month, but your refund can help you to quickly build that fund and provide some peace of mind.

Refinance or Make Improvements

If a lower interest rate is available it will help lower your monthly mortgage payment, but refinancing has closing costs and other fees associated with it. Using your refund to refinance your home will save you money each month on your mortgage; money that can be better spent on something else.

If you have a good mortgage rate already, take a look at your house. Does your air conditioning system need to be replaced? Maybe energy-efficient appliances will help you pay less in utility bills. Making improvements around your home can significantly increase its value and make it more comfortable to live in.

Buy Life Insurance

When you’re young, you tend to feel pretty confident that there’s always going to be time to take care of the ones you love. Life insurance is usually overlooked. But if you’re married and you have a family or you’re planning one, a term life policy will offer them protection should the unthinkable happen to you. For a few hundred dollars, your tax refund can make sure your family is protected.

Spend It On Something You Need

Is your car in need of repair? Have you been putting off a visit to the doctor’s office? Let your refund help you get these essentials taken care of.

Why spend all of your refund on things you don’t really need when you can use it to save you money and give you peace of mind?

There are a plethora of “free money” apps out there that feel like a scam. If you’ve gone looking for a Paribus Review, you know that isn’t the case with them. Paribus differentiates itself from so many of the other apps for one simple reason.

Yes! The differentiator here is that I have actually gotten money back through Paribus. I know, for a fact, that this app works. Now that that’s out of the way, we can dig into the app.

An Honest Paribus Review

You set up Paribus by giving it permission to connect to your email address. This is how it tracks your purchases made around the web! As previously mentioned, they work with select merchants, but those merchants cover a wide variety of products. I do 99% of all my online shopping at Amazon, but if you’re not like me, you’re likely still covered. You can also connect your Paribus account to your credit cards to cover your bases entirely and make sure you are always getting the best price.

How It Works

You sit back and relax. Paribus looks at your purchases and uses bots to check prices on the things you’ve bought to see if the price drops. If it does, they work to get you money back. If not… well, you bought it anyway! If Paribus finds you money back, you will receive a message. Paribus does not collect any commission from your refund. Signing up with this link will get you started.

Here’s an example:

Sally buys shoes from an online retailer for $48. Paribus watches the price and it drops to $24. The difference: $24. Instead of $48 on those shoes, your net expenses are $24. As an added bonus, you get all this money back without have to do any extra work since Paribus does that for you!

More About Paribus

Paribus is not a scam. Like I said, I have made money with them. But, I also did some background research for this Paribus Review. Here is what I found…

The app was initially developed in 2014 as the brainchild of two Harvard guys – Karim Atiyeh and Eric Glyman. The software pretty much only runs on iOS, but there are plans to expand it to other operating systems. It is also owned by Capital One, so Paribus is a legit app run by a major banking corporation.

My Take? – Found Money

One thing that differentiates Paribus from similarly “found money” apps is that it requires no work from you. No tedious surveys that pay 10 cents per word. This is an app that actually works, costs you nothing and can help you bring in extra money at no additional work or cost to you. You have nothing to lose!

A side income refers to work you perform outside of your regular job. So, let’s say you work a 9 to 5 office job but you babysitting on the side, that’s a side income or also known as a side hustle. A Side hustle is a great way to not only add more money to your bank account but that money can be used to pay off debt, start a savings, or use it as your fun spending money!

Instead of focusing on penny pinching every cent you bring in with your regular job the side income will allow you to focus your energy on earning and saving more. Are you looking to pay off student loans, lower your debt or saving for an awesome vacation? A side hustle is for you! The best thing about a side hustle is you are able to try a large variety of things and see what works best for you and your everyday schedule. You don’t need to quit your job or make any crazy long term decisions to start your side hustle since they are generally pretty low-risk. Stick your toes in all your options until you find one that works for you financially.

Here are some tips to help you manage your side income:

You will have to pay taxes on any side income money you make over $600. PLAN APPROPRIATELY. You don’t want to get stuck with a tax bill at the end of the year.

Remember to spend less than you make. This is a major key if you want to use your side income wisely.

Open a new bank account, whether it’s a savings account attached to your everyday account or a completely new one. Pro-tip, when they ask if you would like a bank card for the account say no.

For your new income set up direct deposit and link it to the new account. This will help eliminate the spending temptations when pay day rolls around.

Depending on how much your side hustle brings in, distribute the money appropriately, if you have a mortgage payment, car payment or credit card payment use that money first to contribute to the monthly payment.

Next, tackle that debt. Use as much money as you to pay down your debt.

If you haven’t downloaded Digit yet I would get on that. The app is extremely user friendly, making it mindless to use. Not only that is it extremely helpful when trying to start a savings account.

Use your side income to help you get ahead on payment, add another payment on your credit card or car payment. Not only will this help your credit, it will give you a little cushion if life decides to throw an unexpected expensive at you.

Finally, use some of your side income for you. This money is to help relieve some financial stress. Use that money for something that you’ve really wanted, or treat yourself to dinner and drinks with friends. You’re working hard, you deserve it!

For more ways to make extra money through side hustling check out these great articles.

Disclosure

The Free Financial Advisor is not an investment advisor and the comments posted herein are opinions of the authors. While they have been professionals at one time, since AverageJoe, Emilie and others are not currently a registered investment advisors or brokers, their opinions should be considered those of amateurs.